Marin Voice: Americans must try to rise above tribalism

Dumping carbon dioxide and other waste products into the environment asked Mother Nature to swallow more than she could. She pushed back — in surprising, and costly ways.

We have done something similar to our national culture. The educated and wealthy, with time to spare, dumped their preoccupations with racism, police brutality, climate change, inequity and inequality (and so on) onto everyone else. They ignored the reality that half the nation suffers from more concrete, immediate and pressing issues — poverty, hunger, inflation, jobs, violence and drug addiction. This half can’t access $600 for an emergency. After being ignored too long, swallowing too much, they’re pushing back. We shouldn’t be surprised.

Mea culpa. I join you with my head in the sand. Who in Marin wasn’t pulled into the 2020 media’s feeding frenzy around renaming Sir Francis Drake Boulevard? Yes, it blew over, and rightfully so. That doesn’t mean racism isn’t a terrible force in our culture, but while renaming streets, or even paying millions in “retribution”, may ease guilt, it won’t purge racism.

I mentioned my concerns about us failing half the nation to a friend, who replied, “But look at what (President Joe) Biden has done increasing jobs and slowing climate change.” In frustration I replied, “Exactly. That’s the typical intellectual liberal response. It has nothing to do with the pain and emotional tribalism driving the ‘make America great again’ movement.”

If you can’t empathize with the destructive rage that’s pushing people towards a savior, then you aren’t really listening. Stop being “reasonable.” Try putting your head in theirs, where what they’re doing makes perfect sense.

How ironic that the Republican Party, until recently the flag bearer of the educated and economic elite, now upholds the torch for the disenfranchised. Democrats, who since Franklin D. Roosevelt were the working-people’s party, passed this baton across the aisle. By ignoring the reality of others, we are paying the consequences.

We live in an uncaring and unsustainable consumer culture that disproportionately rewards certain groups and skills, while severely penalizing others. It’s the group that feels cheated – denied the “promised apple” – pushed to the back of the line, ignored and even mocked, who admire their savior’s behavior.

For them, it’s not about their candidate’s lying, misogyny, cheating and theft. It’s about giving the finger to the society that deserves the finger, mocking a self-serving hypocritical culture, saying outlandish things they wish they could say themselves.

They do not want to be told that by reelecting Donald Trump they might shoot themselves in the foot. They are angry and Trump is the spokesperson they have chosen. They are all in. In the eyes of many, those not with them “must” be one of those destroying our nation.

Well, I won’t be sideswiped again. I was in shock, immobilized for three days after the 2016 presidential election. This time I’m ready, steeled for escalating social, political and economic surprises and insults to my upper-middle-class sensibilities. I’m not going to let the consequences of a string of cultural missteps, largely beyond my control, ruin my life.

As the Roman philosopher Seneca said, “We worry more in our imagination than in reality.” I could add, “Somewhere in this pile of horse droppings there’s a pony.”

In this pivotal moment I’ll do my part, with no finger-pointing and a foot in each tribe’s reality. At the same time, I’m looking for that gold ring, hoping we can rise above divisiveness and polarization and tribalism and inequity and inequality. We must see ourselves as humans, each trying to do the right thing, live a good life, be recognized, appreciated and valued for who we are and what we bring.

We each possess the strengths, fears and frailties that make our species so adorable and so terrifying. In my better moments I remember that.

Barry Phegan, of Greenbrae, is a frequent author of Marin Voice commentaries. He can be found online at companyculture.com